A Closer Look at GDC Mobile's Indie Underdogs

Last week at the Game Developer’s Conference I participated The Big Indie Pitch with journalists from eight other major mobile gaming outlets. The small event managed to cram everything I love about the video game industry into one awesome, intense and energetic two-hour experience.

The idea is simple: give 30 indie game developers five minutes each to pitch their game one-on-one to some of the biggest mobile gaming journalists in the biz. Developers rotated through table to table, like speed dating. Just with way more business card swapping and questions about In-App Purchases. Here's how it went down:

Some of the games aren't very fun. Some of them don’t even exist yet. They’re just concept art and short Powerpoint presentations - one step above scratches on a cocktail napkin. And some of the titles are far too good to be relegated to just a five-minute pitch. What is Kingdom Rush Frontiers, the sequel to one of the best games to ever hit the App Store doing here?

There’s not a lot of time for questions about the teams themselves, but one refrain comes up over and over again. “I used to work for Ensemble, but I wanted to be in charge of my own destiny. I wanted to work on smaller projects where I could make MY kind of game.” Industry veterans from Sony, Bungie, EA, Rare, Sega and Crystal Dynamics rub shoulders and pitch games alongside students that have never shipped a product.

It’s mostly the inventive and unconstrained student projects that stand out to me as the winners from the event.

This is a concentrated dose of what makes video games awesome. The App Store and outlets like PSN and Steam get fresh and inventive titles all the time. But they come out at a steady drip. I intuitively know that there are hundreds of small teams out there working on ultra-cool titles due out across 2013. But seeing so many in a single blast of enthusiasm and ingenuity provides an important affirmation that the future of video games is very bright.

In no particular order, my stand-out choices from The Big Indie Pitch:

In fiction the future is usually either a Star Trek-style idyllic utopia, or a Judge Dredd-esque dystopian nightmare. In my opinion the future is likely to be much like life today. Just with much longer space-commutes.

Redshirt developer Mitu Khandakar seems to agree. Her project is essentially a Sims-style life simulation set in a distant future… where everyone is obsessed with social networking. To get a better job players can work hard to gain the right skills… or they could just befriend the hiring manager on Spacebook and “like” all their statuses to get on their good side.

Tengami from is Nyanyam is a soothing and atmospheric adventure set in a Japanese pop-up book. As players turn the pages to change the scene various pull-taps and flip-points are used to further manipulate the environment and solve each page’s puzzle.

Third Eye Crime from Moonshot combines age-old stealth gamelay with intuitive line drawing controls. The big tweak? Players control a telepathic art thief able to see where roving enemy guards think you are. Using this knowledge (and a variety of power-ups) lets players escape through each scene sight-unseen. The game’s stylish noir aesthetic fits the gameplay perfectly and further separates the title from the pack.

Third Eye Crime is nearly finished – it’s slated for release later this spring.

Wayward

Rocketcat’s follow-up to Mage Gauntlet is one of 2013’s most promising mobile action-RPGs. The spin-off keeps the original’s excellent retro art and fast-pace realtime combat, while replacing the hand-crafting levels with randomly generated stages. Wayward also introduces a new gesture-based spellcasting system and several unique character classes.

Uruguayan developer Kalio’s Ring Run Circus is yet another example of clever one-button design in action. Each circus-themed stage is comprised of a series of rings. Your circus performer rides the inside of the rings when left alone, swapping to the outside when you tap the screen. This simple setup is used to flip switches, dodge obstacles and more. Multiple playable characters all have their own special abilities, further mixing up the gameplay. It’s fun, clever and accessible.

Take the pixel-by-pixel destruction found in a game like Cortex Command, mix it up with the castle attack gameplay found in a game like Epic Battle Fantasy, and toss in some Angry Birds-style projectile flinging. The result is something like Cannon Crasha. With 80 campaign levels, local and online multiplayer and plenty of bonus modes, it’s obvious the team at Gangogames & Fabraz are going all-out to make this one a big value.

Cannon Crasha is also due out later this Spring.

Justin is Editor of IGN Wireless. He has been reviewing mobile games since the dark days of Java flip phones. You can follow him on Twitter at @ErrorJustin and on IGN.